Month: March 2016

In this scene, it shows the three witches, chanting an incantation,

• ‘Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife.’, which means he should be wary of Macduff
• ‘nobody born from a woman will ever harm Macbeth.’
• ‘Macbeth will never be defeated until Birnam Wood marches to fight you at Dunsinane Hill.’

In this scene, it talks about Lennox who talks to another King about the past events. King Duncan’s death as well as the murder of Banqou which has been blamed on Fleance as he fled after his fathers death. They suspect Macbeth and call him a tyrant, which means he abuses his power.

In this scene the main witch is scolded by Queen Hecate, as they told Macbeth his fate. It says “How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and affairs of death”, which means why are they ‘messing’ around with Macbeth’s fate.

This scene starts with Macbeth explaining how everyone at the banquet has there own ranks, positions, and they should sit down according to that rank. A murderer enters and tell Macbeth what he has done, Macbeth asks if he finished him, The murderer confirms, however Fleance escaped. Macbeth then says that the young snake still lives as a threat, which means Fleance is a threat knowing Banqou is dead. The ghost of Banquo then enters. Macbeth then says the table is full, except for the seat in which the ghost is sitting. everyone then leaves as they think Macbeth is ill as he is seeing things.

This scene starts with three murderers talking. Until they are interrupted but the sound of Banqou on his horse. When he walks in he is attacked and tells fleance to ‘Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!’, which is telling him to run away. Banqou then dies. they then leave to tell Macbeth what the had done.

This scene, starts with Banquo, saying how Macbeth now has everything as he is king. However he suspects how Macbeth did this as he says ‘I suspect you cheated to win these titles’.  Macbeth also explains that he has hatred for Banqou and that he is sick while he is alive. Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to look lively as he seems down, and that he should act nice around Banqou as they need to ‘flatter’ him in this dangerous situation.

In this scene, thanes, Ross and Macduff, are reflecting on the murder of the king. They are thinking of what to do and are thinking of his two sons, Malcolm and Donaldbain, who have fled due to being suspected of the kings murder.

In this scene everyone has found out that King Duncan is dead. Macbeth is weary that many people suspect him as the killer. Everyone finds out he was killed when Macduff says ‘Oh, horror, horror, horror! This is beyond words and beyond belief”, which means that someone broke into the castle and took the life of the king. Macbeth then pretends to care for the king’s death. However the guards are also accused, as they were covered in blood. Donaldbain then says he will go to Ireland as he is in fear of also being murdered.

Shakespeare creates tension through dramatic irony because we as an audience have more knowledge about the play that the characters, as we can see everything ( every scene) but the actors can only see what they are assigned.

• There are many reasons why Shakespeare created tension within the book and played with Macbeth’s Fate.

The witches introduced Macbeth’s fate. They said his fate was that he should beware of Duncan. Shakespeare is in charge of Macbeth’s fate as he wrote the book and can put anyone where he wants and can write what he wants.

The play would be very different if the witches weren’t there. They told Macbeth that he will be King, which urged him to kill Duncan even more. If they weren’t there Macbeth would not have known his fate , and maybe would have tried as hard to kill Duncan or would not have done it at all.

There is dramatic irony in the play as the audience or readers know more about the play as they watch the whole play so they know about everything that happens, whereas the actors only know way they are assigned.

Another thing is when Macbeth first met the witches he did not ow whether to trust them or not. However the audience know that he should not trust them. This is because earlier in the play the witches did something bad. They cursed a woman’s husband as she did not give some chestnuts to the witches. This is why they shouldn’t have been trusted

To add, when King Duncan was killed, the audience knew that it was Macbeth who killed him however many people blamed Malcolm and Donaldbain for his murder.

Another thing is, that King Duncan had full trust in Macbeth, however the audience knows that Macbeth wants to kill the king to become King, but King Duncan does not know this. This is why many people did not think that Macbeth killed the King as they know that, or they think, that Macbeth was loyal to the king.

Shakespeare created tension by making a prophecy that was ‘no man of woman born could harm Macbeth’, however Macduff was able to kill him. This is as Macduff was not born of a woman he was cut out, he was ‘untimely ripped’, this is how he killed Macbeth as he was not woman born.